"Missing" Participants Reunite with $10
Million

October 4, 2000 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Nearly five
thousand pensioners have been reconnected with their
"missing" pensions totaling some $10 million during the past
year, thanks to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's
(PBGC) Pension Search Directory.

Since its launch in December 1996, the Pension Search
Directory has located some 6,600 people eligible for $21
million in pension benefits earned, but not received.

Generally these funds come from companies that
terminated their pension plan before all beneficiaries were
located, or underfunded plans that were unable to pay
benefits when the plan was terminated.

While the 6,600 people “found” to date are in 48 states,
plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, over half
are from just five states, New York (1,089), California
(969), Ohio (399), Pennsylvania (376) and Texas (374).
Benefits for those found averaged $4,200, ranging from
$2.00 to $111,000.

The Directory currently has information about some
12,000 missing pension plan participants, with $27 million
in pension benefits.

Of the 12,000 currently in the database, over half are
from six states:

2,038 in California

1,901 in New York

840 in Texas

609 in New Jersey

608 in Michigan

607 in Illinois

Their benefits average about $2,600, ranging from under
$1.00 to $196,000. The Directory also includes unallocated
people who may be able to document that they are owed a
benefit, even though current PBGC records show that no
benefit is due.

The PBGC recommends that workers hold on to any
pension-related information and make sure to tell their
employer when they move or change names.

The PBGC is a
federal corporation created under the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974 to guarantee payment of basic
pension benefits earned by about 43 million American
workers and retirees participating in nearly 40,000
private-sector defined benefit pension plans.